


A Good Moral at a Bad Time

by Dragonbat



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Disney - All Media Types, Disney Princesses, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Genre: Backstory, Crossover, Family, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28209735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonbat/pseuds/Dragonbat
Summary: Really, considering his family history, Prince Adam could scarcely be blamed for his reaction, when the old woman came to his castle offering a rose in exchange for a night's lodging...
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	A Good Moral at a Bad Time

**Author's Note:**

> Just an idea that occurred to me over Zoomchat with RedTailedHawkens…

**A Good Moral at a Bad Time**

"Then what happened?" the young prince asked, his blue eyes wide as saucers.

His mother gently pushed back a lock of his golden brown hair. "Well," she said, "the dwarfs came home not long afterwards, but when they found me lying on the floor, they thought I was... Well, they thought I'd died."

"But you didn't, Mama!" Adam protested. Then, a bit nervously, "…Did you?"

The queen smiled. "No, but it certainly looked that way. So, they put me in a glass coffin, and said their goodbyes…"

"Then what happened?" He half-sat up in bed and his hair fell forward into his eyes once more.

"I can't wait till that grows out enough to tie back," Snow White murmured, pushing back the wavy lock once more.

"Mama!"

The queen smiled. "Your father came riding by. And when he saw me lying there, he told me later that he just had to kiss me."

"But he thought you were dead, too?" Adam asked, his five-year-old face screwing up in disgust. "Ewwww!"

Mama laughed. "Well, I wasn't _really_ dead! Though," she allowed, "I guess if I had been, that would have been a little… peculiar. But that kiss woke me up."

"And then you and Papa got married and you had me and you lived happily ever after!" Adam finished.

"Who's telling this story, me or you?" Mama demanded with mock annoyance.

"You are! You are!" Adam giggled. Then he tilted his head in confusion. "But it's over now, isn't it?"

"Well, everything but the moral." Snow White's good humor vanished and her face grew serious. "Adam, the dwarfs warned me not to let anyone in while they were gone. But when the queen knocked on the door of the cottage, I was fooled by her disguise. All I saw was a harmless old woman. I didn't realize the danger until it was too late. I want you to promise me that you'll remember that things aren't always as they seem. And sometimes, a person who means harm to you may mask it with a friendly smile."

Adam gulped. "I promise!"

Queen Snow White bent down and kissed her son's forehead. "That's my good boy," she said gently. "Now, good night."

* * *

_Six years later…_

"It's just for a few days," Papa assured him. "Meanwhile, I expect you to mind Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts."

Adam scuffed his toe into the richly-woven carpet. "Yes, Papa."

"Adam," Mama's voice held a warning. "You are the prince, and you will one day succeed us. But until then, you're not to lord your status over the staff."

"Chip told you!" Adam snarled. "He said he wouldn't!"

"Told us what?" Snow White asked, her expression intent.

"Nothing," Adam muttered, looking down and scuffing his toe more deeply into the carpet.

"I hope we'll hear 'nothing' again," the king remarked. "Really, Adam, there is a difference between authority and arrogance and I fear you've yet to learn it."

Adam nodded, somewhat cowed for the moment, but he really didn't see the distinction. He guessed he would when he was older, but being older didn't sound like any kind of fun. Not like hiding Chip's slippers on cold winter mornings, so the servant boy had to set his bare feet down on the cold stone floor when he rose in the morning. Or soaking the wicks of Lumière's tapers in water, so that they sputtered and would not light. Or stealing Cogsworth's daily schedule and rewriting it with the entries slightly _rearranged_.

He still couldn't quite see why, when his antics came to his parent's attention, it meant lectures about his rank and how such pranks ought to be beneath him, and yet, when he tried to act as one who held the lofty rank he'd been born to, he was scolded for arrogance.

"I'll be good," he muttered sulkily, hoping that his idea of 'good' would align with his parents' idea of it this time.

"I know you will," Mama said. "And Adam, remember. Don't open the door…"

"To strangers," the young prince finished. _Especially not to harmless-looking old women!_

* * *

_Two nights later…_

"I'm sorry to bother you, Your Highness."

Adam looked up. "What is it, Cogsworth?" he asked as a bolt of lightning flashed from the window.

The officious chamberlain harrumphed for a moment, but it was almost masked by the thunderclap that followed. "Well, there's an old woman come to the castle asking for a night's lodging. I was wondering whether to accommodate her in servant's quarters, or perhaps one of the guest apartments. She's rather bedraggled, but she _would_ be our guest—"

"No."

The chamberlain's jaw dropped. "Your Highness?"

"No," Adam repeated. "There will be no opening of our doors to old women on this night, nor any other. I know how that story goes." He rose to his feet and strode toward the door of the chamber.

"Your Highness!" Cogsworth hurried to catch up. "Please! I must remind you of your duty to your subjects! It's a hard night to be on the road!"

"Then direct her to the nearest inn."

"She has no money, your highness," Cogsworth protested. "But she offered a rose as payment."

"A rose?" Prince Adam repeated scornfully. "I suppose she must have run out of apples…"


End file.
